After contacting the Council a couple of times, today I got a call regarding this request.

To get the ball rolling again I had to provide my email address for them to respond directly to me. They have subsequently sent an email - the body of which I have pasted below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request – Dowsing

1. I write to acknowledge your request for information dated 20 December 2017 regarding Dowsing.

2. We received your request on 2 May 2018. As discussed by telephone, your request was not received by a current staff or team email. We have emailed the address provided for fyi.org.nz with the intent to clarify which contact details they have listed for Napier City Council and to correct this.

3. This is being treated as an Official Information request, and as such Council must meet certain criteria in how and when we respond to you, set out in the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

4. Your request has been provided to the relevant officers for follow up. You will be advised of Council’s response as soon as is reasonably possible, and no later than 20 working days from the date we received your request, unless we have agreed an extension to that time frame with you before the due date.

Further to the above, I have had a response directly by email.

I will now close the record on FYI.

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request – Dowsing – Response

1. Further to your request for information dated 20 December 2017 regarding Dowsing, I am now able to provide you with Napier City Council’s response.

2. You requested:

“I am interested in the use of dowsing techniques by employees and contractors used by your council when working with water, e.g. pipe leaks, water sources, etc.
Please release the following information:

1. If any Council or Council Controlled Organisations staff use dowsing as part of their job
2. If any contractors employed by Council use dowsing as part of their work when engaged by the Council
3. If any dowsing companies explicitly offering dowsing services have been engaged by the Council.
4. For any of the above, what costs were incurred by the Council.

Please give me this information for as long as records are available.”

3. Response:

1. Council holds no information identifying either current or previous staff members who use or have used this technique.
2. Council has not engaged contractors to implement this technique for any reason.
3. No dowsing companies explicitly offering dowsing services have been engaged by Council.
4. No costs have been incurred by Council.

4. If you have any questions with regards to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us at governance@napier.govt.nz.

5. If you are unhappy with the decision(s) communicated here, you have the option to contact the Office of the Ombudsman to request a review. The Ombudsman can be contacted at:

The Ombudsman
PO Box 10152
Wellington 6143
info@ombudsman.parliament.nz

or an online form can be accessed at:
http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/make-...

Yours faithfully

Deborah Smith
On behalf of the Privacy Officer